Science

This article originally appeared in the Dec. 11, 2019 issue of SpaceNews magazine. Jim Morhard may be a newcomer to space, but not to astronauts. The NASA deputy administrator often tells the story of how, as a six-year-old in Arlington, Virginia, he and his older brother knocked on the door of a famous neighbor. “He

HONOLULU — The first core stage for NASA’s Space Launch System finally rolled out of its factory Jan. 8, ready to be shipped to a NASA center for a key series of tests in the coming months. The core stage of the SLS rolled out of the Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans, accompanied by

In October, NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine announced he was hiring Doug Loverro as his new associate administrator for human exploration and operations. For the space industry, it was a familiar name in an unfamiliar role. Loverro had spent his career up until now in national security space at the Air Force, National Reconnaissance Office and,

Brig. Gen. Doug Schiess said the 45th Space Wing will continue to do what it has been doing. WASHINGTON — The SpaceX launch of Starlink satellites scheduled for Jan. 6 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on the Florida Space Coast will be first launch of 2020 and also the 45th Space Wing’s inaugural launch

WASHINGTON — An agency of the U.S. Department of Commerce is developing its own estimate of the size of the space industry, the most authoritative effort to date to measure space’s role in the broader economy. In an article published in the December issue of its journal, the Survey of Current Business, the Bureau of

Iridium wrapped up de-orbiting 65 first-generation satellites, but questions remain over what to do — if anything —  about the 30 that remain space junk.  WASHINGTON — Iridium Communications completed disposal of the last of its 65 working legacy satellites Dec. 28, while leaving open the possibility of paying an active-debris-removal company to deorbit 30

SANTA FE, N.M. — A Florida airport is making progress on a long-running effort to obtain a commercial spaceport license despite a lack of customers for the facility. In a Federal Register notice published Dec. 19, the Federal Aviation Administration announced the release a draft environmental assessment for the Space Coast Regional Airport in Brevard

SANTA FE, N.M. — A revamped NASA mission to search for near Earth objects from space has secured funding to start development as the agency works out details about how it will be managed. The fiscal year 2020 “minibus” spending bill signed into law by President Trump Dec. 20 that provides $22.63 billion for NASA

Also joining the Aerospace board are former DoD official Kathleen Hicks and former NASA official Dava Newman. WASHINGTON — The Aerospace Corp. announced Dec. 23 that former vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, retired Air Force Gen. Paul Selva, has been elected to the company’s board of trustees. Also joining the Aerospace board

WASHINGTON — Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner commercial crew spacecraft will return to Earth Dec. 22, just two days after launch, as the company and NASA investigate a timing problem that prevented the spacecraft from visiting the International Space Station. In a media teleconference Dec. 21, NASA and Boeing officials said they had decided to land the

TITUSVILLE, Fla. — The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration will complete its transition to a new generation of geostationary weather satellites in January when it shuts down two older spacecraft. NOAA announced Dec. 18 that the GOES-14 and GOES-15 spacecraft will be powered down and placed into “orbital storage” by Jan. 31. Those spacecraft, launched

WASHINGTON — Startup satellite builder Saturn Satellite Networks says it doesn’t have a customer lined up for the small geostationary spacecraft it booked aboard the inaugural launch of Northrop Grumman’s OmegA rocket, but reserved the 2021 mission to save time down the road.   Northrop Grumman announced Dec. 12 that Saturn agreed to launch one or

Spokeswoman Ann Stefanek: “The Air Force will proceed with an aggressive and effective sole-source negotiation.” WASHINGTON — The U.S. Air Force confirmed Dec. 13 that Northrop Grumman is the only bidder for the Ground Based Strategic Deterrent program to develop a new intercontinental ballistic missile. The Air Force only received one proposal in response to

WASHINGTON — Northrop Grumman announced Dec. 12 that Saturn Satellite Networks, a startup satellite manufacturer, will be the customer for the first OmegA launch in 2021. Northrop said Saturn will fly one or two of its NationSat small geostationary satellites on an OmegA rocket launching from the Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Complex 39B in the

NEW ORLEANS — The federal government issued updated guidelines Dec. 9 to mitigate the creation of orbital debris, but many in the space safety community were disappointed with the limited scope of the changes. The revised Orbital Debris Mitigation Standard Practices (ODMSP), announced in conjunction with an orbital debris conference near Houston, are the first

The Falcon 9 upper stage engine performed a 20.1 second burn after the six-hour coast LOS ANGELES — The upper stage of the SpaceX Falcon 9 mission to the International Space Station Dec. 5 successfully performed a six-hour coast and a deorbit burn, a test that had been requested by the U.S. Air Force to

WASHINGTON — NASA space station managers are still trying to find ways to squeeze in at least three spacewalks into a crowded schedule before the station’s crew drops to three people in February. NASA astronaut Andrew Morgan and ESA astronaut Luca Parmitano completed the third in a series of spacewalks Dec. 2 to repair the

SAN FRANCISCO – TriSept Corp., a launch integration and mission management company, announced Dec. 2 an $18 million indefinite delivery indefinite quantity (IDIQ) contract to support NASA cubesat launches. Under the new contract, NASA will have the option of turning to TriSept of Chantilly, Virginia, for mission integration services and dispenser hardware in support of cubesat

SEVILLE, Spain — Italy, one of the largest contributors to the European Space Agency, is pleased with the outcome of the recent ministerial meeting that provided funding for a number of its priorities, including a reusable spacecraft. In a finally tally of contributions provided by ESA at the end of the Space19+ ministerial meeting here

SAN FRANCISCO – A decision made at the recent World Radiocommunication Conference could undermine the accuracy of weather forecasts by interfering with meteorological satellite observations, according to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the European Center for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF). “The race to release 5G technology threatens to squeeze out other radio-frequency dependent technologies, including

French propulsion startup ThrustMe unexpectedly made it into orbit early this month with its innovative propulsion system placed aboard a Chinese cubesat. Dianfeng, or Xiaoxiang-1 (08), a six-unit cubesat developed by privately owned Spacety, was a secondary payload on the launch of the Gaofen-7 civilian Earth observation satellite Nov. 2, along with a first satellite

HOUSTON — The announcement this week by the head of the Federal Communications Commission that he will seek a public action of satellite C-band spectrum is unlikely to be the final word in that debate, industry officials believe. FCC Chairman Ajit Pai announced Nov. 18 that he will propose the commission conduct a public auction

BREMEN, Germany – Capella Space won a U.S. Air Force contract to adapt its commercial synthetic aperture radar (SAR) for military applications. Capella won the $750,000 Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase 2 contract for its presentation at Air Force Space Pitch Day, a competition in San Francisco in early November to identify commercial technology

BREMEN, Germany — FCC Chairman Ajit Pai informed Congress Nov. 18 that the agency will run a public auction of C-band spectrum instead of allowing a consortium of satellite operators to sell it directly to 5G wireless operators.  Satellite operators Intelsat, SES and Telesat, acting as the C-Band Alliance, have been lobbying the Federal Communications

The 10-year contract is for operations and support of the Advanced Extremely High Frequency, Milstar and Defense Satellite Communications System constellations. WASHINGTON — Lockheed Martin has been awarded a $3.3 billion contract for support services on classified military communications satellites, the U.S. Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center announced Nov. 15. The 10-year indefinite-delivery

WASHINGTON — The Senate Commerce Committee approved Nov. 13 a NASA authorization bill introduced a week earlier to extend the life of the International Space Station and support other agency programs. The committee approved, on a voice vote, the NASA Authorization Act of 2019. That bill, S.2800, was introduced Nov. 6 by a bipartisan group

WASHINGTON — SpaceX completed its second launch of 60 Starlink satellites Nov. 11, making its own system the largest commercial telecommunications satellite constellation in orbit.  SpaceX launched the satellites on a Falcon 9 rocket at 9:56 a.m. Eastern, from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. The satellites separated just over one hour later into a

WASHINGTON — Telesat Canada will likely choose the winner of a now three-way race to build its low Earth orbit broadband constellation in the first few months of 2020 instead of this year, CEO Dan Goldberg said Nov. 5.  Goldberg, in an earnings call, said Telesat still anticipates having 200 satellites orbiting in 2022 and

DIU received 25 proposals for the Dismounted Assured PNT System WASHINGTON — The Defense Innovation Unit’s Boston office is reviewing vendor proposals for handheld navigation devices that don’t rely on Global Positioning System satellite signals. They would be used by U.S. Army soldiers in future military conflicts when they expect GPS signals to be disrupted.

WASHINGTON — Finding international consensus on deployment milestones for constellations of non-geosynchronous satellites is a top space-related priority for the U.S. delegation attending the 2019 World Radiocommunication Conference, officials said Nov. 1.  Grace Koh, the ambassador leading the U.S. delegation at WRC-19 in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, this month, said there are several space-related topics the